Volume 10
Issue 4
Veterinary Medicine
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume10/issue4/abs-13.html
THE EFFECT OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENT – HUMOBENTOFET ON RABBIT CAECAL PARAMETERS OF MICROBIAL FERMENTATION AT IN VITRO STUDY
Dorota Mi¶ta
Department of Animal Physiology and Biostructure, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Wroc³aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland
ABSTRACT
The aim of the dissertation was to determine the influence of Humobentofet, a humic-mineral-fatty supplement, on the selected parameters of in vitro fermentation in the rabbit’s caecum. The research was conducted on 54 rabbits of the Belgian giant breed, aged 6 months. The samples of caecal content were taken directly after slaughter and then diluted with a solution containing a buffer selection. To the samples prepared in this way, Humobentofet (HBF) was added at the dose of 10% (group D1) and 15% (group D2) of the taken chyme. The controls consisted of samples that did not contain HBF. The samples were then fermented in vitro in anaerobic conditions in bottles placed in a shaker with a water bath. Collected samples were also prepared and then incubated in a fermentor in order to analyse gases produced in the process. The samples to be analysed were taken from bottles before the fermentation (0. h) and in the course of fermentation, i.e. after 4, 6, and 24 hrs of fermentation, in order to determine the concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFA) in them by means of gas chromatography. Additionally, the pH as well as the concentration of ammonia and lactic acid were also determined. Subsequently, the percentage concentrations of three most important acids (acetic acid C2, propionic acid C3, and butyric acid C4) in their total concentration, the C3/C4 ratio, the fermentation efficiency, the ratio of energy regained in VFA to the energy lost in methane as well as the VFA utilisation coefficient were calculated. The gas samples were taken from the fermentor at 4, 6 and 24 hrs of fermentation to glass pipettes in order to determine the content of methane and carbon dioxide by means of gas chromatography. On the basis of the obtained results, it was concluded that the influence of the humic-mineral-fatty supplement on the in vitro fermentation of the rabbit’s caecal content is manifest first of all in the increase of the content of propionic acid in the total volume of VFA, the increase of the fermentation efficiency and the lowering of the non-glycogenic VFA/glycogenic VFA ratio. Besides, it was observed that the pH of the caecal content was lowered. The changes enumerated above prove the favourable impact of Humobentofet on the bacterial processes that take place in the rabbit’s caecum, especially in the case of animals bred for consumer purposes.
Key words: rabbit, humic-mineral-fatty supplement, caecum, fermentation.
Dorota Mi¶ta
Department of Animal Physiology and Biostructure, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Wroc³aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland
C.K. Norwida 31
50-375 Wroc³aw
Poland
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